News Letter

Issue4 | June 2017

C.Raj Kumar

This June, as we approach the beginning of JGU's 9th academic semester in August, several initiatives have complemented our overall institutional efforts to strengthen the University's academic offerings, programme capacities, administrative effectiveness and physical infrastructure. Admissions to all schools of JGU have proceeded successfully, including to our youngest school, the Jindal School of Journalism & Communication (JSJC), as we look forward to welcoming our latest cohort of students. This is a particularly exciting time of the year for us as we also welcome Professor Tom Goldstein, Founding Dean, JSJC to the JGU campus as he takes on the role of building the new School.

The International Institute for Higher Education Research & Capacity Building (IIHEd) at JGU hosted the inaugural edition of the Aspire India Scholars Programme Summer School for high school students. The core of JGU's vision is to advance access, equity and quality in higher education in India. This includes creating opportunities for high school students to experience the diversity of academic programmes, disciplines and campus environments that are available to them at the tertiary level and enabling an informed transition from high school to university. We are proud of our first batch of AISP Summer School alumni and hope that their experiences at JGU will encourage them to think more widely and deeply about their educational and career choices.

In early June, a JGU Delegation visited Israel to explore collaborations with leading universities and organisations. The visit resulted in the initiation of a number of new possibilities for collaboration in the areas of teaching, research, and student and faculty exchanges. I want to commend the efforts of the Jindal Centre for Israel Studies at JGU, led by Dr. Rohee Dasgupta and Dr. Khinvraj Jangid. The Centre has emerged as a multi-disciplinary intellectual platform and resource hub for academics, practitioners and students who are interested in India-Israel relations and issues.

JGU also strengthened its existing relationship with the East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL) by signing University-level cooperation agreements. The agreements were signed on the occasion of the inaugural China-India Legal Forum which was jointly hosted by the Jindal Global Law School, the Institute of BRICS Legal Studies at ECUPL and Dentons Shanghai Office on the theme of 'How to Avoid Legal Risks While Investing in India'. The Forum itself was conceptualised during a visit by a JGU delegation to ECUPL in April 2017. JGU also signed an academic cooperation and exchange agreement with the Kelly School of Business, Indiana University that will open up possibilities for collaboration between Indiana University and the Jindal Global Business School (JGBS). We continue to extend our efforts to build substantive partnerships with institutions not only in North America and Europe but also in countries in India's neighbourhood, including in the Middle East and South Asia. These international partnerships will provide new opportunities for JGU's students to experience a truly global education.

JGBS inaugurated the IBM Business Analytics Lab this month. The Lab will play an important role in providing a critical analysis platform for the MBA Business Analytics programme at JGBS. The Jindal Initiative on Research in IP & Competition hosted the second edition of the international conference on "Standardization, Patents and Competition Issues: Developments and Perspectives in the Asia Pacific Region and Europe" and explored critical themes in the field with participation from scholars, academics and industry.

Also this month, Professor (Dr.) Sanjeev P. Sahni, Principal Director, Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences, conducted training workshops for school administrators, principals and teachers in Meghalaya, Assam and Orissa, thus expanding the Institute's teachers' training efforts in the country. This issue also accounts the encouraging and important work being done by the Peer Educator Program of the Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences. Since its inception in 2015, it has evolved to serve as a focal point for students to draw on the experiences of their peers, counsellors, faculty and staff members and the rest of the campus community to address challenges in residential student life.

The Jindal Institute of Leadership Development & Executive Education has continued to consolidate its programme capacities through continuing training programmes that have included the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the Central Tibetan Administration, and the governments of Gujarat and Haryana.

With warm wishes,
Professor (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar

Monthly Spotlight

On June 16, 2017, the International Institute for Higher Education Research & Capacity Building (IIHEd) at JGU launched the inaugural edition of the Aspire India Scholars Programme (AISP) Summer School for high school students to guide their transition from high school to higher education. During the two-week intensive residential programme, the students engaged in classes taught by faculty members of JGU and also had the opportunity to listen to Aspire India Ambassadors - young achievers from the fields of public policy and social entrepreneurship, media and communication, and creative writing and publishing. The summer school also included sports and recreational activities including drama workshops and movie screenings. The first cohort of the AISP Summer School welcomed 17 students from CBSE, ICSE and IB schools across a number of Indian cities and towns, including Surat, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Allahabad, Ghazipur, Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon and Chandigarh.

“As a science student I didn’t really think a subject like law would capture my interest. But, with a well-versed professor like Mr. Aditya Swarup, the classes we had were entertaining and made me reconsider my thoughts on a lot of social issues. ”

Raunak Chopra

Hansraj Model School, Delhi

“Business Management, Leadership and Entrepreneurship was a super interesting module. We learnt about various levels of business organizations. My favourite was the group activity ... as it helped us to understand all the theory we were studying by making us experience it.”

Report on the Visit by a JGU Delegation to Israel 3 - 6 June 2017

The 4-day visit to Israel by a JGU Delegation headed by Vice Chancellor, Professor C. Raj Kumar and the Jindal Centre for Israel Studies is part of JGU’s larger vision to establish strong international collaborations with universities around the world as we mark eight years of institution building. While JGU has international collaborations with over 180 educational institutions in 45 countries, they tend to be focused more on North America, Canada, UK, Europe and to a limited extent in parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa. While we will continue to build on these collaborative initiatives, there is a new impetus to develop and strengthen international collaborations with leading universities in Israel and the broader Middle East that are truly world-class institutions of learning and can provide new opportunities for JGU's students and graduates.

Jindal Center for Israel Studies aspires to pioneer the field of Israel Studies through excellence in teaching for multicultural non-western classrooms and build a research colloquium on Israeli History, Politics, Society and Culture as well as on Israel-

Jindal Centre for Israel Studies - Pioneering Israel Studies in India Jindal Center for Israel Studies aspires to pioneer the field of Israel Studies through excellence in teaching for multicultural non-western classrooms and build a research colloquium on Israeli History, Politics, Society and Culture as well as on Israel-

The Jindal Centre for Social Innovation & Entrepreneurship (JSiE) hosted the "Tibetan Entrepreneur Pitch Day" in partnership with the Central Tibetan Administration as part of JSiE's Tibetan Entrepreneurship Development Initiative.

June 9

The Jindal School of Government and Public Policy hosted a Special Lecture on "The Political Process of Policymaking" by Professor Philippe Zittoun, Secretary General, International Public Policy Association, Research Professor of Political Science at LET-ENTPE, University of Lyon, France.

June 10

The Jindal Global Law School in collaboration with the Institute of BRICS Legal Studies, East China University of Political Science and Law (ECUPL), Shanghai and Dentons Shanghai Office organised a signing ceremony of cooperation agreements and the inaugural China-India Legal Forum on "How to Avoid Legal Risks While Investing in India?" at the ECUPL Changning Campus as part of an Activity Series in Celebration of the 65th Anniversary of the ECUPL.

June 10 - 11

The Jindal Initiative on Research in IP & Competition hosted the Second International Conference on "Standardization, Patents and Competition Issues: Developments and Perspectives in the Asia Pacific Region and Europe".

June 16 - 30

The International Institute for Higher Education Research & Capacity Building (IIHEd) organised the inaugural edition of the Aspire India Scholars Programme Summer School for High School Students.